Iraq Oil Inspector Says Smuggling Threatens Economy

[ECH1969]

The inspector general of Iraq's oil ministry released a grim report on oil smuggling on Tuesday, calling for an urgent government crackdown on what he said was the biggest threat to the economy.

The report cited oil smuggling as one of the main reasons behind billions of dollars in crude export losses, saying it had become "the most important and prominent" danger to the economy, which depends almost entirely on oil sales.

"We call for a serious government attitude to tackle these problems that harm the budget of the state and weaken the abilities of a country looking for a way to improve its standard of living," said the report.

Oil, Iraq's lifeblood, could also get caught up in a sectarian bickering that is still delaying the formation of a government four months after parliamentary elections.

http://www.aina.org/news/20060425104239.htm

[Vincardog]

1. Why do you think the occupation took the meters off the pipelines?

[Robbien]

2. The current oil minister is Ahmad Chalabi

Want to bet who is in charge of all the smuggling?

[Earth_First]

3. Of course The Occupation is privy to the information...

...they're the one's in on it.

Listen, you cannot have it both ways.

It's the "coalition" and private security contractors that are providing the security to the Iraqi oil fields. You're telling me that the security provided is so ineffective as to allow for gross smuggling of billions of dollars worth of crude oil? Absolutely NOT!